Transgender patrons thrown out of US bar 'for being abused'

The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating an incident recorded on video and widely shared on social media that shows security staff forcefully removing transgender patrons from a downtown bar on Friday.

Employees of Bienestar Human Services, which focuses on health issues in Latino and LGBTQ communities, were celebrating the first day of a local LGBTQ festival at Las Perlas bar when a couple began directing "transphobic slurs" at their table, Khloe Perez-Rios wrote on Facebook.

Ms Perez-Rios is the manager of Transgeneros Unidas, the Bienestar team focused on advocacy for transgender and non-binary people.

In the video Mr Perez-Rios posted that went viral, one person is seen repeatedly screaming, "Don't touch me like that", as they are forcibly grabbed by bar security, slammed against a wall, and thrown out.

Another security staff member is seen grabbing another individual in a chokehold, dragging them across the bar, and also throwing them out.

"What happened?" the individual being dragged outside can be heard asking.

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Cedd Moses, CEO of Pouring with Heart, the hospitality group that owns Las Perlas Bar, said in a statement that the manager on duty asked two groups of guests to leave after an "escalated verbal altercation broke out".

He added that the company has "zero tolerance for this type of behaviour".

"The guards removed the guests that were not compliant with the manager's request to leave and did so in accordance with company policy," the statement read.

Ms Perez-Rios told CNN affiliate KTLA, "They used excessive force to remove trans women out of the place and they were very gentle to remove the man and the woman who were very inebriated and very aggressive".

Bienestar Human Services said in a statement that it would follow up with law enforcement on the incident.

LAPD acknowledged the incident on Twitter and said it could not comment on an ongoing investigation.

"Whether in public, or inside of a private establishment, all Angelenos deserve the freedom to coexist in harmony," the department said in a tweet on Saturday.

Dozens of people protested outside the bar on last night, chanting "No justice, no peace" and "Trans lives matter". Others online urged a boycott of the bar.

Mr Moses called the incident "rare and unfortunate" and added that Las Perlas would donate all profits from this weekend to Bienestar Human Services.